


The Need to Escape

by orphan_account



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Foot Turtles, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, here there be monsters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-23
Updated: 2015-10-23
Packaged: 2018-04-27 19:28:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5061106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Foot!Turtles AU: The Shredder has a knack for ruining lives. This is a meandering fic exploring what the turtles' and Karai's lives would be like under the Shredder's care, and what it takes for them to break free of him. Leorai-centric, with tcest and other ships interspersed in later chapters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'll include warnings at the beginning of each chapter; heed these over the tags, which I will keep sparse for my own sanity. 
> 
> This part is PG.

“You know, Karai’s gonna kill you.”

That wasn’t enough to faze Leo. He cut the air with broad strokes, cutting enemies down in his mind one after another, a clear path to victory. “She can try,” he said.

Raph stepped into Leo’s path and caught his katanas on his sai. “I’m serious.”

“So am I.” Leo’s blades trembled, but his arms were steady, bearing the impossible weight of Raph’s strength. It was something he couldn’t do for long. “She’s going to huff and puff about this and then fall in line. What other choice does she have?”

Raph yanked their weapons down, a graceless move that might have disarmed Leo if he’d been trying. Instead, he took a step back and regarded Leo. “If she tries,” he said, “I’ll kill her first.”

“No, you won’t,” Leo snapped. His tone was enough to make Raph look away, but only for a second. “Shredder would have your head. If it really comes to that, I’ll take her to the mats. You’re not seriously worried about this, are you?”

“You didn’t see her face. I did. She was _pissed,_ Leo. I haven’t seen her that upset in ages.” 

“Karai’s not stupid.” Leo sheathed his swords and began to stretch, though he’d planned on training for at least another half hour. Stretching, however, let him obscure his unease. “She knows I earned chunin fair and square. If she wants it, she can earn it back.” 

Raph spun his sais and sheathed them in his belt, then adjusted a glove with a rough tug. “Whatever you say,” he said. Leo knew when Raph considered a discussion over – and this one certainly wasn’t. Instead of pressing, however, he cracked his neck and shrugged. “I’m gonna go on a run. Wanna come with?”

“I can’t,” Leo lied. He was forming a new plan for the night – one that he’d hoped wouldn’t be necessary. Hope, however, was thin on the ground in the Foot Clan. “Be safe, brother.”

They clasped hands; Raph was reluctant to let go, as if he could glean some information from that touch. Whatever he saw in Leo, he kept to himself, parting without another word.

*

Karai found him first. Of course. She’d had a penchant for knowing where he’d be ever since they were children and it’d made her laugh to surprise him. Back then, she’d always found him with a smug word and Cheshire grin or laughter like an apparition.

This time, it was with a taut bridle on her rage. “You really think you deserve this, don’t you, Leo?”

Leo spun on his heel to face her and squared his shoulders. At least she hadn’t tried to corner him; they were in the hallway by the kitchens, which provided more than enough ways to avoid a fight, if it came to that. “The Shredder seems to think so,” he said. “Do you disagree with the master’s judgment?”

“Of course I do! You _know_ I deserve this.” She was too angry to bother with play or discretion, storming up to him and snatching a fistful of his scarf. “I’m the better ninja, the better tactician – “

“And reckless, and quick to anger, and more interested in stealing new toys than running a clan.” 

Karai’s fist clenched, but his words seemed to stopper her anger. Karai was searching for her key – and it did not take her long to pick it. “And a human,” she said. Anger shivered through Leo. Satisfied, Karai let go and stepped back. “Unless you forgot that the leader of a clan has to, oh, interact with other humans, occasionally?”

“The Shredder – “

“Is a short-sighted fool,” Karai said. “And just loves spoiling his pets.” 

Leo’s hands clenched; his face grew hot, and tight. He was too aware of how his clothes fit, too tight around his chest, clumped loosely around his elbows and knees. His throat itched. She’s jealous, he thought. It didn’t help. Not in the slightest. “Don’t call me that,” he said, voice low.

“What, his pet? But you are, aren’t you?” She flicked his scarf, grinning – but she had gone too far.

Leo moved without thinking, spinning and driving his heel into her stomach. She staggered back and hit a knee, coughing. Blood rushed in Leo’s ears, warping the sound, warping his sense of vertigo.

“I am your chunin,” Leo snarled, “and you _will_ respect me. Do you understand?”

Karai lifted her head. She did not need to speak, didn’t need to do anything to cause a wave of guilt to rush over him.

She was not his subordinate. She was his equal. His friend. She had tended to him when he was sick, teased him, trained with him. She had fielded the Shredder’s ire for him many times, just as he had for her. She had been the one to persuade the Shredder to let Leonardo and his brothers off of their chains.

“Understood,” she said. “Chunin.”

He had gone too far – it didn’t matter what lines she had crossed, what lines she may. But there was nothing he could say. His throat was clamped shut, his body taut with unspent anger and shame.

Karai stood, tilted her head in respect, and turned.

Raph hadn’t been right. If he was now, well – Leo would do what he must.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This part is PG/PG-13, with implied Bradford/Mikey.

“I’m going to kill him.”

Mikey was glad they weren’t in the stealth part of the – uh, “mission” – yet, because he burst into laughter. When he recovered, Karai was scowling at him. “No, you’re not.”

“Unlike my father, I _don’t_ make idle threats.”

“Yeah you do. I’m pretty sure it’s genetic?” Mikey swung onto the roof access and squatted next to her. “You wouldn’t be telling me if you were serious about it. C’mon. I wouldn’t let you kill Leo. So, either you’re not serious, or you’re seriously wanting to be talked out of it.” 

Karai didn’t answer right away, and that? That was a bad sign. She was chewing this over, staring at some non-point on the horizon. She’d already put too much thought into this, and was putting more in. Goosebumps rose on Mikey’s arms.

“He’s getting worse,” Karai said. “He’s turning into _him._ ” 

“No, he isn’t.”

“And,” she continued, “now that he’s chunin, he’s going to work extra hard to make the master happy. And we all know what makes the Shredder happy.”

Mikey was listening, but all that his brain was providing in response was how badly he didn’t want this to happen. If Karai was talking like this, Raph was talking the exact same way – probably with Leo. And if Raph got under Leo’s skin…”C’mon. It’s Leo. He’s just proud that he’s – ”

“I deserve this. I’m the rightful heir. _I’m_ his daughter, I’m the one who’s – “

“Totally,” Mikey said, so chipper it hurt his throat. “But he’s probably just trying to teach you a lesson, or somethin’. Right? ‘To be a good leader is to know when to hold ‘em,’ or whatever.”

Karai wasn’t totally mollified, but she wasn’t totally pissed anymore, either. She turned away from Mikey. “Your brother is a liar,” she said, finally.

Mikey waited. And waited. At this point, though, he was _really_ antsy, impatient with her anger, impatient to get back to his brothers and make sure no one was actually thinking about starting inter-clan warfare with Karai, of all people. _Karai._ The person who was like, at least 70% responsible for them not just being pretty decoration. They all had a knack for blowing crap out of proportion, but this was over the line. When she didn’t elaborate, Mikey sighed and stood. “Yeah, well. We all are. C’mon. If breakin’ into a high-security lab won’t get your mind off Leo, nothing will.”

*

Normally, Mikey was of the opinion that his brother needed to get out more. Like, way more. Tonight, though, he was glad that Donnie could always be found in one of four places: His lab, the dojo, the kitchen, or bed. Since Donnie was a notorious night owl and training had been done hours ago, it was all pretty straight-forward.

One problem: Rahzar was there. He’d been lurking around Donnie’s lab more and more since his last mutation, but it still sent a weird, unpleasant jolt through Mikey’s stomach to see him in this place. One clawed hand was digging into the back of Donnie’s chair; he was looming, more threatening than conversational. Of course. When had he _ever_ been nice to Donnie?

Or Mikey, for that matter.

“Hey, D! Got a surprise for you!” Mikey tossed the Kraang-y thing on Donnie’s desk; it scattered the gears and bits of metal he’d been working on and knocked his laptop to the side. Donnie, however, didn’t even scowl. “A new toy. Lucky you!”

“Stealing things without Master Shredder’s permission?” Rahzar said. His ears were low, mouth pulled into a snarl. “He won’t like that. Might punish you,” he added, not bothering to restrain his glee.

“He likes anything that keeps Donnie busy.” Mikey rested his hand on the back of Donnie’s chair, close enough that he and Rahzar were almost touching. “’Sides, I went with Karai. Shredhead won’t mind. What do you think, Donnie? Look promising?”

“Well, it’s hard to say. I’ll have to run some tests on it.” Donnie leaned back in his chair to gaze up at Rahzar, tired instead of intimidated – Mikey wasn’t sure if that was because he was here, or if Donnie was just that unfazed. Maybe both. “Look, I’ll let you know as soon as the prototypes are done, okay? Until then, that’s all I can tell you.”

“Fine,” Rahzar said. “Better not keep Shredder waiting.” He backed up and turned to leave; his claws glanced across Mikey’s shell, a skittering vibration that made Mikey shudder. Something stirred in him – something that he clamped down on, _hard._ He had bigger things to wrangle than that mess. 

As soon as he was gone, Mikey hopped onto Donnie’s desk and nudged his chair around to face him. “You heard anything from anyone?”

“I hear pretty much everything that goes on here,” Donnie said. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

“About Karai,” Mikey said. “Freaking out about Leo? And maybe Leo’s freaking out?” 

“Ah. That.” Donnie pat Mikey’s leg, then pushed it off his chair and turned back to his desk. “Leo’s not going to deviate from the plan. You know that. If nothing else, he’s not going to jeopardize this by pissing off Karai.”

“Well, he fucked that up, then! She was telling me she’s gonna kill him. I think she was serious, Donnie. She was saying he’s turning into the Shredder.” 

“If he did, _I_ would kill him. But he’s not. She’s just paranoid because of this stupid chunin thing. Once she takes a couple of days and calms down, this’ll blow over and everything will proceed as planned.” He turned the device over in his hands, practically petting it. He’d told Mikey before that science started with the senses: Touch, sight, sound. When he was feeling generous, he said that Mikey was just as much a scientist as he was, that he just lacked rigor. “Thank you for this,” he said, lifting it. “Looks like it might help me fine-tune the calibration for Xever’s legs. And I bet I could apply it to Metalhead, for that matter…”

If Donnie really believed that this would blow over, well – Mikey believed him. Bigger things had blown over faster. It was a necessity of living in the Foot Clan: You either got over your grudges or you nurtured them in silence. Since the five of them couldn’t afford the latter, they indulged in the former, sometimes to a fault. 

“Alright, bro.” He paused, watching Donnie puzzle over the machine. He nudged a screwdriver closer to him. “Oh, by the way – how’s she doing?”

Donnie blinked, looking more like a surprised owl than a turtle. “Who – oh. She’s doing better, I think. She understands why she can’t leave, anyway.”

“Think I can see her?” 

“Not tonight, Mikey, she’ll be sleeping by now. Besides, I’ve already told you – going to her too often puts us at a security risk. If he knew we weren’t giving her over to the Kraang…” They glanced simultaneously at the security camera pointed at Donnie’s desk; Donnie cleared his throat and sighed. “I’ll wipe it,” he muttered, waving his hand. “Anyway, I need to bring her more food tomorrow. You can go then. She’ll appreciate the company, I’m sure.”

At least he had that to look forward to – if anything could take his mind off this junk, a visit to April definitely would.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This part: G, gen. Flashback time.

If Father knew that she was going to see them, he would be very, very angry. He forbade it, under any circumstance, until they understood what the things were and how dangerous they were. But everyone was whispering about them, the four kappa who cried and cried in the lab underground, who spoke English as fluently as any human child. It was that qualifier which piqued her interest the most – _child,_ the idea that monsters could be anything other than fully-formed, that they, too, could grow.

Father didn’t have to know.

Karai moved like a shadow, without noise and so slowly that a trained eye would never even bother to look for her. She crept down the long staircase to the prison-hold underground, which had been modified to suit as a laboratory as well, until the Shredder decided whether the beasts would be prisoners or lab rats. 

There were no guards at the bottom of the stairs – indeed, no guards even at the cells, which surprised Karai. Father had been so adamant about their danger that she’d expected two guards at the least and had laden her pockets with potential distractions, fire crackers and smoke bombs and metal marbles. She loitered at the bottom of the staircase, gazing into the dark hallway and puzzling over this mystery.

It was the sound of crying that moved her: Faint, easy to mistake for dripping water or the aimless creaking of a building, if one weren’t straining her senses for anything ominous or, indeed, odd at all. She brushed her hair behind her ear and listened hard.

There was no mistaking the soft hiccuping. One of the monsters was crying.

Or – trying to trick her by pretending to cry. 

Let them try. Karai crept closer to the cell, flipping a slim kunai into her hand. She paused at the adjacent cell and held the kunai around the edge of the bars, peering hard at the reflections – but the surface wasn’t smooth enough, and the darkness too heavy. All she saw were dim, hulking shapes. 

The crying was more distinct, now, and all the more sincere for it. But Karai was not a fool.

She rounded the corner, kunai raised, left hand in a defensive pose, braced for anything.

They were – small. Very, very small. Smaller than her, even, though it was difficult to tell, for the four of them were hunched together at the far end of the cell, half-drawn into their shells. Two of them were very still, sleeping, maybe. The third was curled tightly under the arm of the fourth; it was the one that was crying, its body shivering. It was the fourth, however, that drew Karai’s attention.

He was the only one sitting with his back against the wall – sitting tall, and proud, though the black glaze of a metal collar was around his neck. His hands and feet were abnormally large, like an animal’s, and his face was distorted, with no nose to speak of and a brow too low and hairless. She understood why people had whispered of kappas; his body was entirely made of a hard shell, exactly like a turtle.

His eyes were startling, almost a pure white – but no, as Karai’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw that they were a steely blue-gray, a color that she thought only humans and cats could have. Monsters, certainly, only had golden eyes, or pure black, or perhaps pure white. 

For all that his parts were monstrous, the whole was – underwhelming. Hardly frightening at all. 

Karai lowered her weapon. “This is it? _You’re_ the monsters? What a rip-off!”

To her surprise, all of them stirred at that, the two who’d appeared to be sleeping lifting their heads. The one who’d been crying stopped, scrambling to be closer to his fellows.

“We’re not monsters,” the sitting one said, so softly that Karai almost didn’t hear him.

She stepped closer to the bars. “No? You _look_ like monsters. You’re locked up like monsters.”

“We’re mutants,” one protested, “not monsters. There’s a _difference._ ”

“What do you want?” the blue-eyed one asked, his voice as cold as his gaze.

“I wanted to see you. But you’re not scary at all.” She paused, wrapping her hands around the bars. “I am Oroku Karai, daughter of Oroku Saki,” she said. She had wanted to introduce herself like that for a very long time, and hadn’t had the opportunity to until now. It sounded very dignified to her. “And I’m not scared of you one bit.”

“We’re not, either,” the blue-eyed one said. His brothers were certainly not giving that impression, but he made up for it. 

Karai waited for him to continue; when he didn’t, she knelt down and rested her hands in her lap. “Well?” she said. “What’s _your_ name?” She paused. “Do you even have one?”

They exchanged a long look, one that took Karai by surprise, for it filled her with an intense longing. These kappa were closer than she was to anyone, even her father. They understood each other without a single word. Her hands tightened in her lap. One of them shook his head, but the others were noncommittal, unsure. 

To her surprise, it was the one who’d been crying who spoke first. “I’m Mikey,” he said. “Mike-ul-an-gel-oh. This is Leo. That’s Donnie. And – “

“Don’t tell her!”

“…and we’re not monsters,” he finished, sulking. 

Karai hadn’t known monsters could sulk. She hadn’t been sure that they could feel anything other than hatred, jealousy, and rage. Fear, maybe. 

“Will you let us out?” Mikey added, sitting up. Leo put his hand on Mikey’s chest and held him there, not pulling him, not forcing him still. A reminder. 

“She won’t. None of them will.” 

Karai frowned at the one who’d spoken – the one who didn’t even trust her with a name, which seemed ludicrous to her – then stood. She looked back at Leo, whose expression hadn’t changed throughout this, a steady stare, braver than his taut body and sullen silence suggested he really was. “Monsters should be kept away,” she said. “This is where you belong.” 

“Why?” Leo asked, in that same soft voice. “What’ve we done?”

Karai hesitated.

She had no answer to that. Surely her father did; she wasn’t foolish enough to think that he would tell her everything. But it was hard to imagine that these small, harmless things, who cried, who whined at being called monsters, who gazed at her with human expressions, with human nuance, were any threat to the clan.


End file.
